NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced last Thursday that the league has decided to ban themed sweaters from its warm-ups.
While the decision applies to all themed sweaters, the league was facing pressure from teams and players after some refused to wear rainbow-colored sweaters and gear for their franchises’ respective LGBT Pride Nights, Fox News reported.
“I suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because it’s become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs — in some form or another — host nights in honor of various groups or causes, and we’d rather they continue to get the appropriate attention they deserve and not be a distraction,” Bettman told Sportsnet following a meeting of the league’s board of governors.
After the announcement, Bettman was pressed about the timing of the decision, coming as it did in the middle of Pride Month.
“Those are legitimate concerns, but in the final analysis, all of the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various causes have been undermined by the distraction in terms of which teams, which players,” he explained, per Sportsnet. “This way, we’re keeping the focus on the game, and on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause.”
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the issue of sports teams hosting LGBT Pride Nights has been spurring controversy in recent months, especially the Dodgers, whose recent engagement with a drag group that dresses up like nuns known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence has prompted protests and accusations that the team is endorsing an allegedly anti-Catholic organization.
“The Catholic religion is a religion of love. We believe that God is love, that he has opened his heart to reveal himself to us in Jesus Christ,” said Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez. “This is why so many of us are offended by the decision to honor a group that insults Jesus and mocks Catholic believers.”
Last season, all 32 NHL teams held Pride Nights. However, several teams (Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, and Minnesota Wild) and certain players decided not to wear the jerseys because of personal religious and safety reasons (such as fear of retaliation from the governments of their home countries).
Locally, the Dallas Stars hosted a Pride Night in March, and the players wore Pride-themed jerseys. The Texas Rangers are the only team in the area that does not currently hold an official event celebrating the LGBT community.
The NHL has said it will continue to host Pride Nights and other theme nights celebrating “heritage” and other themes, but the events will not involve teams wearing themed warmup sweaters.
“All those nights will continue,” Bettman added, per Sportsnet. “The only difference is we’re not going to change jerseys for warmup because that’s just become more of a distraction from really the essence of what the purpose of these nights are [sic].”
Bettman said the league will continue producing and selling the themed jerseys and sweaters to fans.